North Syracuse Wiffleball League wraps up with documentary, tournament
By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
For Cole Parzych and Dominick Lioto, it’s the end of an era in more ways than one. The two Cicero-North Syracuse High School alumni both recently graduated from SUNY Oswego, and they are saying goodbye to the North Syracuse Wiffleball League after 10 years.
The two aspiring media men are sending off the league in the best way they know how: with a documentary. While Lioto and his brother, Joey, have created a few short films, “A Diamond in the Back: 10 Years of Wiffleball” is the first documentary from the lifelong Central New Yorkers’ film production company, On Bing Productions. The documentary premieres Saturday in conjunction with the North Syracuse Wiffleball League Tournament, which takes place Aug. 9 and 10 at Lonergan Park in North Syracuse.
“One night at a [Syracuse] Chiefs game 10 or 11 years ago we had the idea and it expanded,” Parzych said of the NSWL.
Parzych’s father turned their backyard in North Syracuse into a wiffleball field, complete with painted lines, a scoreboard, and sponsor banners. The Parzychs dubbed it Zeke Memorial Stadium in memory of Cole’s grandfather.
“That was my grandfather’s nickname. He passed away when I was really young so we named the field after him,” Parzych said.
“Walking into Zeke Memorial is almost like walking into a professional wiffleball stadium, if there was one,” Lioto said.
Over a decade, the NSWL amassed about 75 and 80 players, many of them C-NS students.
“We all liked playing baseball. We met playing Little League,” Parzych said.
Lioto and Parzych said it is unique that they were able to gather dozens of kids to spend a decade of Sundays playing wiffleball — which Parzych called a “throwback to the ‘70s or ‘80s” — in contrast to today, when it is difficult to peel many kids off their screens.
The wiffleball players built memories and relationships, the young men recalled.
“We used to umpire all the games ourselves,” Parzych recalled. “One of the things my mom pointed out and the neighbors pointed out is they were sort of impressed that we were able to settle conflicts ourselves.”
The NSWL continued throughout the boys’ high school and college careers, but now that the participants are scattered throughout the country starting their careers, it was time for the league to come to an end. The Parzych family moved to a new home in North Syracuse, leaving Zeke Memorial Stadium behind.
“Most of the kids all graduated college and it seemed like a natural stopping place,” Parzych said. “A little bittersweet, I guess.”
The idea for the documentary first began to take shape about a year ago as the NSWL was in its 10th season. Lioto wanted to recap the wiffleball games and capture the league’s camaraderie.
“A couple summers ago I put together a quick little recap of how the day went,” Lioto said. “I sort of planned on just doing the beginning of the 10th season. … After a few weeks of filming we realized it could have been a documentary.”
Lioto will be putting skills he learned in a documentary class at SUNY Oswego to good use.
“We go from history to showing how the league started in Cole’s backyard [to the] second part: what this backyard field means to all these guys,” he said.
“I think it’s pretty impressive that we were able to string together 10 years up until our players graduated college,” Parzych said. “We still play softball with some of the guys on Wednesdays up in Clay.”
North Syracuse Little League plays at Lonergan Park, so Parzych and Lioto decided to host their upcoming tournament there.
Slots for the NSWL Tournament were just about full at press time, but the public is welcome to watch the tournament Friday, Aug. 9, and Saturday, Aug. 10, at Lonergan Park in North Syracuse. For more information, visit twitter.com/NSWiffleBall or contact Cole Parzych at [email protected].
“People definitely can come watch the tournament, come get some food and enjoy an American pastime,” Parzych said.
After the tournament, On Bing Productions will hold the premiere of “A Diamond in the Back” at the Parzychs’ new home.
“This documentary has been a year in the making,” Lioto said. “It’s mostly showing the hard work and effort of the league over 10 years. It’s a memorable feat from everybody involved.”
“A Diamond in the Back: 10 Years of Wiffleball” will be available, along with other films by On Bing Productions, at youtube.com/user/TheChronicleofCrazy. The next project from the studio will be a four-episode crime/science fiction webseries.